


The Air Between Us

by vickjawn (awshitzombies)



Series: Not Jack [3]
Category: Borderlands
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Memes, Pre-Slash, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-27 18:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6295258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awshitzombies/pseuds/vickjawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Really, if Lawrence ever found out what initially jump-started Axton's interest in him, he'd probably get kicked in the shins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Air Between Us

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I felt kinda bad that all the Not Jack chapters that I posted this week were so depressing, so I come bearing a gift! This oneshot takes place between Chapters 22 and 23 of Not Jack, so I recommend reading up to at least there.

Really, if Lawrence ever found out what initially jump-started Axton's interest in him, he'd probably get kicked in the shins.

As it so happened, they were in the workshop beneath the Crimson Raiders HQ again. Axton was stripped down to his tank top as he worked on his autocannon, not wanting to get his uniform sleeves caught in his baby's delicate innards as he dug around in them. There was nothing wrong with her, really; Gaige had only just done an overall tuneup on her last week, so she was borderline perfect.

Axton's real cause for being in the workshop was currently on the other side of the room behind him. Lawrence was curled in his dark corner - which was usual these days; the dude seemed to feel safer there, so no one bugged him about it too much - and hunched over the ECHO device Lilith had given him. There was an intense look on his face as he unblinkingly stared at the holographic screen. His long fingers were flying over the keys a mile a minute, far faster than Axton could ever hope to type. There was no talking to him whenever he entered the zone. Once he got going on his writing, the only thing that could draw him out of it was his own exhaustion.

Still, the dude had been at it since Axton had descended into the room, which had been over an hour ago, Axton realized, glancing at the clock on the wall for confirmation. Surely he could go for a break.

"Hey," he called, wiping his hands on the rag he kept tucked into his belt.

No answer. Lawrence's tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth now while the rest of his face scrunched up in concentration. It was cute, if Axton was being honest.

Axton drifted over into the other man's space and peered over his shoulder to read what he was writing. Somebody named Athena was deep in battle with something called a orc. The thing had taken a swing at her with its huge fists, but the woman was faster, dodging out of the way with an elegant roll and then slashing at the beast with her broadsword.

"What’s an orc?" he asked.

That got Lawrence's attention. With a violent jerk, he stumbled out of his chair and protectively drew the ECHO device to his chest. Beneath the scars across his face, Axton could see that Lawrence's cheeks were turning pink with embarrassment.

"Don't do that," he blurted as he backed into the wall.

"Sorry," Axton said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I tried callin' you, but you were too immersed to hear me, I guess."

"Oh." Lawrence looked vaguely apologetic now. He seemed to remember whose presence he was in and relaxed, much to Axton’s subtle pleasure. "Sorry. I get so wrapped up in writing sometimes."

"Yeah, you do. You wanna take a break?"

Lawrence blinked at him. "And do what?"

"I dunno, hang out? Look at memes from the ECHOnet?"

The suggestion had been only a little sarcastic, but it wrenched a wry smirk out of Lawrence anyway. “Didn’t think you were the kinda guy who’d bother with that kinda thing,” he admitted.

Axton cracked his own grin, pleased that he was able to make the man smile. “Are you kiddin’? This shit’s pure gold. C’mere, look.”

He returned to his side of the workspace and gestured at Lawrence to join him. He fumbled with his own ECHO device until the damn thing finally connected to the ECHOnet. He had his favorite meme website saved, so he wasted little time in loading it up.

He handed the device to Lawrence and watched him scroll through the endless stream of memes. They were a dying art, so a lot of the posts were older, from way back when the ECHOnet was called something else and computers were these awful bulky things you had to tote around on your lap.

Lawrence stopped scrolling when he got to the one with the two pissed off looking cows standing in the foreground with something on fire behind them. The words “Old McDonald had a farm” were stamped in bold capitals across the top of the picture. At the bottom was one threatening word: “Had.”

A bark-like laugh escaped the taller man. Axton's head whipped up just in time to catch the a flash of the wide, toothy grin Lawrence was sporting before he covered it with his mouth. It rendered him speechless, and he must have looked as stunned as he felt, because a second later Lawrence was reigning in his glee, though the small smile stayed on his face.

"This one's pretty funny," he said, still chuckling as he started scrolling again. "I’m a sucker for the animal ones. Do you like Grumpy Cat?"

It was in that moment that Axton kinda sorta fell in love. Maybe not real hardcore love - certainly not the kind he felt for his ex-wife, or that one dude he spent a Dionysian summer with while on shore leave at the ripe old age of seventeen - but definitely something akin to it.

Everyone else hated his stupid memes. Sarah had threatened to castrate him if he came near her with any. Most of his friends in Sanctuary were the same way. But Lawrence - he had actually _laughed_ over one. That kind of thing didn't happen.

“Axton?” Lawrence asked, brow creasing with mild concern when Axton failed to respond to his question. “Are you having a stroke?”

Axton blinked, then leaned closer to the other man. With his eyes glued to Lawrence’s lips, it didn’t take a genius to figure out where he was headed.

“Oh hell no.” Lawrence laughed, pushing him back with a finger. “Our first kiss is _not_ going to happen over a _meme_.”

He was just kidding around, Axton knew. They’d been flirting with each other since they’d gotten drunk in a closet together thanks to Gaige’s dumb game. The next day after waking up in bed with the dude (and Krieg, but Axton was going to pretend that part never happened) Axton had accidentally fired off a series of raunchy flirts without thinking, but instead of being weirded out or repulsed or - worse - frightened of him, Lawrence had returned them with a few of his own. It was all in fun, Axton had to keep telling himself. It made Lawrence smile and that was more than enough.

Despite the small shock of disappointment jolting through Axton’s gut, he grinned. “Why not? I can think of worse things people have sucked face over.”

“I don’t wanna know.”

Axton left the work space without his kiss, but that was probably for the best. Or so he kept trying to tell himself.

The event stuck with him for the rest of the day. It got kind of annoying how much he thought about it, actually, but he didn't realize just how badly he was engrossed by the whole situation until he nearly lost his head to a rampaging Goliath out in the Tundra Express. A quick duck and fumble had his autocannon being deployed, saving not only his skin, but Salvador’s as well.

Once the fighting died down, his teammates shot him confused, somewhat dirty looks as he scooped his baby off the ground and set her back onto his shoulder.

"You are distracted," Zero admonished, sounding mildly irritated. "Please try to focus, Axton. You'll get yourself killed."

"Or us," Salvador muttered, hefting his rifles over his shoulders.

Axton huffed out an apology and gave himself a little shake in a vain attempt to get his head back in the game. There wasn't time for stupid daydreaming when he had bandits to kill and loot to collect.

At the end of the day, he was a thousand bucks richer and sporting a shiny new assault rifle courtesy of Marcus, but still lost to his thoughts.

"So anyway," Gaige was saying later that night as they sat in a booth at Moxxi’s, "since Zero knocked me up with their weird alien babies, we've decided to elope to Promethea."

"Uh huh," Axton said, staring through her as he idly chewed on a toothpick.

"Also, Moxxi and Krieg are engaged. The wedding's on Elpis, with Claptrap as the minister."

"Cool."

" _Dude_ ," Gaige said flatly, "what's wrong with you? Have you heard any of the shit I've been spouting for the past ten minutes?"

"Language," Axton said automatically, leaning back in his seat. "And yeah I have. Totally."

"So you think it's cool that I'm naming one of my alien babies after Handsome Jack."

"I - _what_?" Axton blinked twice and finally came back to reality. "The hell're talkin' about?"

Gaige scowled and flicked a salt package at his face. "You're such an airhead today, dude! What's wrong? Did...did Sarah get in contact with you or something?" she asked, toning down her irritation. "You only act like this when you start thinking about her too much.”

Axton was about to adamantly deny anything of the sort, but decided at the last second to instead ignore it and answer her first question. "Lawrence laughed at one of my memes."

A good ten seconds passed before Gaige reacted; she rolled her eyes so hard her entire body moved with them. "You and your stupid memes, I swear to god, Ax."

"No, but, like, he genuinely seems to like ‘em."

The mechromancer narrowed her gaze. "So...what? What are you saying, that you're in love with the dude now that you've found someone who appreciates your awful brand of humor?"

Axton opened and closed his mouth.

Gaige's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "You gotta be kidding me!" she shrieked, rearing back so hard in her seat that she almost split the ratty old thing in half. "You fell in love with him because he likes _memes_?"

"No!" Axton blurted as his brain came back online. He cast a quick glance around the establishment, worried that Moxxi had somehow overheard, but the woman was still behind the bar yelling at one of her patrons over how high his tab had gotten.

He turned back to Gaige and hissed, "I'm not in love with him! Shit, it's only been like, a month and a half since he woke up! Nobody can fall in love that fast!"

"You told me you fell head-over-heels in love with your ex-wife on your second date with her."

Axton felt a blush creeping its way up his neck. "To be fair, our second date was blowin' up a bunch'a rebels on Themis."

The memory of Sarah toting around a rocket launcher twice her size like it weighed nothing was a turn-on for sure, but her going berserker on a handful of gun-toting rebels with her bare hands was downright amazing. Who _wouldn’t_ fall in love with a woman like that?

"Romantic," Gaige remarked dryly, smirking. "So, if not love, you've got a crush on Law. Is that it?"

He shrugged stiffly, unable to meet the teenager's eyes. "I hate that word," he grumbled, watching a bead of condensation trickle down the side of his glass. "You know why they call it that, right? 'Cos that's what happens to your heart half the time when the other person finds out."

Gaige wrinkled her nose. "You sound like half the girls in my high school. Law already likes you, dude. Or at least likes looking at your ass, but who doesn't?"

Axton sputtered and sent her a glare. “What’re you tryin’ to say?” he growled.

"Take him out on a date," she suggested.

"But we're not datin’."

Gaige tilted her head back, clearly pleading with some sort of deity to give her strength. "Then just _out_. Get him out of the city, show him a good time. Don't think of it as a date. Just two dudes hanging out, doin' whatever it is dudes do."

Whenever Axton took another dude out, it ended with them tangled up in bed together. Doing that with Lawrence made Axton's cock twitch with interest, but he knew the guy was still in the midst of recovering from a great deal of trauma. The last thing Axton wanted to do right now was add to his list of things to worry about.

He shook his head. “Lilith said he’s not allowed to leave town,” he pointed out.

“I know how to get my hands on a Buzzard,” she said, leaning forward. She had the same eager, sneaky glint in her eyes that she got whenever they were plotting out some life-threatening mission. “Take him for a joyride. It’s technically not leaving town if you don’t set foot somewhere else, right?”

“Maybe?” Axton rolled his shoulders in a clueless shrug. “Doesn't Law have this thing with heights?"

"It'll be fine," Gaige assured him as she rose to her feet. "Leave it to me.”

The prospect was downright terrifying to think about, but Axton was still willing to give it a shot. If nothing else, he would just be spending time with Lawrence. He liked doing that.

“All right,” he said, leaning back. “But this doesn’t count as you payin’ me back for the shitshow that was Maya’s party the other night.”

Gaige scowled. “It wasn’t _that_ much of a disaster, you ass! You got to get cozy with Law in a closet, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Axton agreed, “but after you lovely ladies konked the fuck out, I had to break down the damn door - which Maya is makin’ me pay for - and then after I passed out drunk on top of Law, I woke up with my nose shove into Krieg’s armpit.”

“How is any of that _my_ fault?”

“All’s I’m sayin’ is that for all your boastin', you’re a shitty wingman.”

“I’ll show you shitty.” She slapped her half of the bill down on the table, knocked over Axton’s drink, and disappeared out the door, deaf to his ensuing outburst.

~

It was dark by the time he got the call from Gaige. As promised, she had the Buzzard secured and ready for him whenever he managed to snag Lawrence, which should be any minute, unless the dude received some bad news from Dr. Zed. He had mentioned something a bit ago about being tested for the myriad of diseases that the universe harbored. Working for Handsome Jack for over five years probably hadn’t done him any favors, especially when he’d been unconscious for a good portion of that time.

Axton hoped he escaped with a clean bill of health. He knew Lawrence was super self-conscious about the way he looked now, and not even just the Jack parts. Whenever he caught himself smiling, he’d remember the tooth he was missing and hastily raise a hand to hide his mouth. He didn’t like not being covered from head-to-toe, even indoors. The last thing he needed on top of his physical issues was to learn he had turbo cancer or something just as awful.

Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case. Eventually Lawrence came stumbling out of Dr. Zed’s looking happier than he’d been in a while, much to Axton’s relief. Judging by the grin on his face as he started down the road, Lawrence was as healthy as he could be.

Pleased, Axton waved at him from his spot against the wall of the building across the street, snagging his attention without scaring him.

“Hey,” Lawrence said, flashing him another dazzling grin. Axton was hyper-aware of everything the man did now and noticed how Lawrence’s smile was enough to make his stomach twist with pleasure. “What’re you doing here?”

“Got a surprise for you, if you want it,” Axton replied, unable to not return the man’s smile. It made him happy seeing Lawrence so happy, especially after hearing his confession a few weeks ago about wanting to be dead.

Lawrence cocked his head, curious but also cautious, if his squinted eyes were any indication. “What kind of surprise?” he asked.

Axton wouldn’t tell him, insisting on showing him instead. He led the taller man to the edge of town near Scooter’s Garage where, as Gaige promised, a Buzzard was parked.

Lawrence’s eager pace faltered when he caught sight of it. “What’s this?”

“A B-19 Buzzard,” Axton said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Modified for two passengers. I thought we could go for a ride, get outta town for a bit. Whaddya’ say?”

Lawrence looked downright terrified. “I’ve - I’ve got this thing with heights,” he babbled, unable to tear his gaze away from the metal deathtrap. “I-I appreciate the offer, but…”

The dude looked so scared that Axton almost let him go. “I promise I’m a better pilot than you think I am,” he said, extending his hand towards the other man. “Just trust me, Law.”

It looked like every inch of Lawrence’s being was begging him to turn tail, but Axton’s plea and gentle smile had done the job. After a good thirty seconds of internal debate and hesitation, Lawrence shakily stepped forward and took Axton’s hand.

Axton gave it a reassuring squeeze before he pulled Lawrence on board. The guy scrambled into the seat directly behind Axton. Buzzards didn’t have seat belts; as soon as Lawrence realized this, he let out a strangled squeal and immediately wrapped his arms around Axton’s middle, gripping him so hard that Axton knew he’d have arm-shaped bruises come morning. He didn’t mind.

“Hold on tight,” he teased as he turned the Buzzard on. It easily roared to life and immediately began to ascend, much to Lawrence’s terror.

Axton gripped the controls and guided the Buzzard up and away from Sanctuary. He didn’t really have a destination in mind, but he knew that the Frozen Wastes looked gorgeous at night, so he turned the Buzzard towards the northeast and floored it. With any luck, they’d get there within the hour.

For most of the ride, Lawrence had his face buried in Axton’s back, and he was so rigid that Axton was actually beginning to feel bad for him. Maybe this was a dumb idea, he mused with a defeated sigh. For all he knew, all he was doing was further traumatizing him.

As if reading his mind, Lawrence flexed his fingers along Axton’s ribs, almost like a silent apology for being unable to get over his fear. 

Axton took his hand off the analog stick to squeeze one of the arms coiled around his middle. “Open your eyes, dude,” he said gently.

“I can’t.”

“Sure you can. This is nothin’ compared to everythin’ you’ve been through.”

That little fact must have lulled Lawrence’s eyes open. Axton felt rather than heard the little gasp that rattled Lawrence’s body once he caught sight of the natural beauty extending for miles and miles around them.

The light from Helios and Eplis was bouncing off the snow-covered terrain, turning what was once a boring white into a glistening kaleidoscope of color. On the other side of them, greens and blues rippled across the sky like a luminous river against the blackness of the nighttime sky. It was mostly cloudless, so the parts of the sky not painted with glorious light were glistening with the pinpricks of stars.

From up here, it was so easy to pretend that the world below was safe and welcoming and not frothing with dangerous creatures of all shapes and sizes. Axton himself would have found that shit boring as anything, but he knew Lawrence would appreciate it.

“Oh,” Lawrence breathed. His chin came to rest on Axton’s shoulder as he continued to observe the world around them, now with interest instead of pure terror. "Where are we?"

"A few miles south of the Frozen Wastes. Ain't much to look at from the ground durin' the daytime, but they get awful pretty at night."

"Yeah," Lawrence agreed softly, briefly tightening his grip around Axton's middle.

Eventually Axton had to turn the Buzzard around and head for home. Lawrence stayed aware the whole time, taking in the sights as they drifted back towards the floating city. Sanctuary might not have been much to look at while roaming her dirty streets, but from afar she was certainly a sight for sore eyes.

He brought the Buzzard down exactly where it had lifted off from with as much care as he could, then stepped off the vehicle and turned to help a shaky-legged Lawrence down. His one knee crapped out on him halfway, sending him tumbling into Axton’s chest for a split second until he could quickly and bashfully right himself.

The man offered him a toothy smile in thanks, and Axton felt his dumbass heart do a flip behind his ribs. He should have been irritated by how childish his body was being about this whole thing, but honestly, he was kind of enjoying the sensations. It had been a while since he’d felt anything of the sort.

“Why did you want to take me out tonight?” Lawrence asked shyly, breaking the silence between them.

Axton almost told him it was because he wanted to do something nice for him, but he caught himself, thinking that such a thing sounded way too lame. They weren’t dating, for fuck’s sake.

 _Not yet_ , the cocky, nineteen-year-old part of his brain declared. Axton squashed that part down. He wasn’t trying to woo his CO, dammit - Lawrence was different. Lawrence deserved more than smart-ass remarks about how good he was in bed or how big his dick was.

No wonder Sarah divorced him, he mused, only to smother that thought as well.

“I wanted to apologize for passin’ out on you the other day at Maya’s,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly. “It was kinda a dick move on my part.”

Lawrence chuckled and ducked his head. “We were all drunk. It happens.” He hesitated, a small smile twisting on his scarred mug, before he brought his good eye up to meet Axton’s. “Well, thank you anyway. It was really nice.”

Axton grinned. “Was it? ‘Cos you were basically crying the whole time.”

“I wasn’t _crying_ ,” Lawrence groused, puffing out his cheeks. A split second later, he amended: “Not the whole time, anyway.”

“Sure,” Axton cooed, earning a shove from the taller man. “Y’know, if this was a movie, we’d be makin’ out by now.”

Lawrence’s cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red at the very suggestion. He pulled his hood down over his face in a desperate attempt to hide it from the commando. “I don’t make out with sassy pricks,” he exclaimed.

“Aww, c’mon! Not even a ‘thanks for not crashing the Buzzard’ peck?”

Axton had been teasing, of course, so when Lawrence suddenly seized him by the shoulders and laid a wet one on his stubbly cheek, all he could do was stand there like a dumbass, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

“Thanks,” Lawrence choked out, releasing him. “For not crashing the Buzzard.”

“You’re welcome?” Axton said intelligently, still too surprised to do much more than stand there.

Lawrence nodded, flashed a cheeky grin, then darted down the street towards HQ.

Axton watched him go as he brought a hand up to rub at the spot still tingling from Lawrence’s smooch. With a grin of his own, he sauntered off towards his room at the hostel with a bounce in his step and a swelling in his chest that he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.


End file.
